Real Madrid

History of Real Madrid: The Club of the Century and Its Fifteen European Crowns

Named club of the twentieth century by FIFA, Real Madrid hold football's two most prestigious records: thirty-six Spanish championships and fifteen European Cups. A record built on a unique culture of the comeback and of the final won.

1. Foundation and the Building Years (1902–1942)

The club was founded on 6 March 1902 as Madrid Football Club, by students and enthusiasts gathered around the Padrós brothers. In 1920 King Alfonso XIII granted the honorific title "Real" (royal) and permission to display the crown on the crest. Madrid FC won several Copas del Rey and the first two Spanish championships in their history, in 1932 and 1933. The Civil War brutally interrupted that rise and left the club drained.

2. Santiago Bernabéu and Five European Cups (1943–1966)

Everything changed with the arrival as president, in 1943, of Santiago Bernabéu, a former player who would remain in office for thirty-five years. In 1947 he built a stadium gigantic for its time — the one that would bear his name — and assembled a conquering team around the Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano, signed in 1953 after a ferocious battle with FC Barcelona.

The result exceeded every expectation: Real Madrid won the first five editions of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, from 1956 to 1960, a record no one has ever approached. With Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Francisco Gento, the 1960 final at Hampden Park in Glasgow — a 7–3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in front of 127,000 spectators — is still regarded as one of the greatest matches ever played. The club added a sixth crown in 1966 with the "Ye-yé" side, composed entirely of Spanish players.

3. La Quinta del Buitre and the Long Wait (1967–1997)

Real dominated Spain but stumbled in Europe for thirty-two years. The 1980s produced La Quinta del Buitre, a home-grown generation around Emilio Butragueño, Míchel and Manolo Sanchís, who strung together five consecutive league titles between 1986 and 1990 and won two UEFA Cups, without ever reaching a European Cup final.

4. La Séptima, the Galácticos and the Glasgow Triumph (1998–2013)

The wait ended in 1998 with La Séptima, a seventh European Cup won against Juventus. The eighth followed in 2000 and the ninth in Glasgow in 2002, delivered by Zinédine Zidane's legendary volley against Bayer Leverkusen. Florentino Pérez had meanwhile launched the Galácticos policy: Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham. The club dominated global marketing but then endured almost a decade without a European trophy.

5. La Décima and the Zidane Dynasty (2014–2024)

On 24 May 2014 in Lisbon, Real finally claimed their tenth European Cup, the famous Décima, beating Atlético Madrid 4–1 after extra time thanks to Sergio Ramos's stoppage-time equaliser. Under Zinédine Zidane as manager, the club then achieved something unprecedented in the modern era: three consecutive Champions Leagues (2016, 2017, 2018). Driven by Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modrić, Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema, that side stood as the most dominant of its time.

A fourteenth crown followed in 2022, at the end of a campaign of improbable comebacks against PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City, then a fifteenth in 2024 at Wembley against Borussia Dortmund — an all-time record. Kylian Mbappé joined the club in the summer of 2024.

6. The 2025–26 Season: A Year of Transition

After Carlo Ancelotti left to take charge of Brazil, Real Madrid handed the bench to Xabi Alonso, a former club midfielder, in the summer of 2025. The season proved demanding. In La Liga, the club finished behind FC Barcelona, who sealed the title on 10 May 2026 with a 2–0 Clásico win, three matches from the end.

The Champions League run was more convincing: Benfica were eliminated in the play-offs, then Manchester City were beaten 5–1 on aggregate in an emphatic round of 16. The quarter-final against Bayern Munich produced one of the season's most spectacular ties, lost 6–4 on aggregate after two matches of relentless attacking intensity.

7. Looking to 2026–27: Chasing a Sixteenth

Since the restart, Real Madrid have entered the new season with the demand that defines the house: to reclaim La Liga and add a sixteenth Champions League to a record already without equal. The club draws on a fully rebuilt Santiago Bernabéu, now one of the most modern arenas in the world, on the commercial power of its brand, and on an academy, La Fábrica, that continues to feed the first team.